infoTECH Feature

The internet is the marketplace of our age, and many are jumping onto the bandwagon to learn just how they can use this new medium for to increase their business. There are a lot of options out there to learn how to succeed in the digital age. Many of the options are businesses themselves, with top marketers offering their miracle toolkits and guidebooks on how to become an internet millionaire. A lot of those options are arguably efficient, yes there are good tips, but much of it can be found for free without having to purchase an entire book.

One group, however, takes teaching digital trades seriously. This is General Assembly, a digital trade school started in 2011. General Assembly portrays itself as a real school, dedicated to teaching business professionals the keys to success. They offer courses that include both online and offline on-site programs that will teach executives the essentials of running a business in the digital world. General Assembly has a wide range of workshops that businesses can use to train their staff in online marketing and other digital tools. The list of clients is quite impressive, including executives from Pepsico, Viacom and American Express (News - Alert).

As it goes through its third year of existence, and third round of funding, General Assembly hopes to raise enough money to vastly expand its operations including plans on building more campuses for its on-site training workshops as well as incorporate more coding and design into its curriculums.

Jake Schwartz, one of its co-founders, said regarding his dreams for General Assembly, “We’ve always had a big vision of General Assembly. We’ll hopefully be around for the next 50 to 75 years, if not longer.”

They need money to accomplish this, and this third round of financing which reeled in $35 million from several investors has been quite a success for General Assembly.

In exchange for a seat on the board, Institutional Venture Partners, a venture capitalist firm known for its success with such companies as Netflix, Twitter, and Zynga (News - Alert), has been given a vast amount.